Music

Music Staff

Kent Tritle, Director of Cathedral Music & Organist
Kent Tritle is one of America’s leading choral conductors. Called “the brightest star in New York's choral music world” by The New York Times, he is in his sixth season as Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City; his tenth season as Music Director of Musica Sacra, the longest continuously performing professional chorus in New York; and his twelfth season as Music Director of the Oratorio Society of New York, the acclaimed 200-voice volunteer chorus.

In addition, Kent is Director of Choral Activities and Chair of the Organ Department at the Manhattan School of Music and is a member of the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School. Also an acclaimed organ virtuoso, Kent Tritle is the organist of the New York Philharmonic and the American Symphony Orchestra.

In the summer of 2016, Kent made his Asian debut, an appearance at South Korea’s Great Mountains Music Festival and School conducting The National Chorus of Korea and the GMMFS Orchestra in a program featuring Beethoven’s Mass in C Major. This landmark event launches a 2016-17 season highlighted by the U.S. premiere of Einojuhani Rautaavara’s Vigilia (the full work) at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; masterpiece masses by Bach and Mozart with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall; programs of Palestrina, Arvo Pärt, and Sir John Tavener, and of Bach, Britten, and Brahms with Musica Sacra; and the third annual presentation of a major choral work by the Oratorio Society and the Manhattan School of Music at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine: Britten’s War Requiem.

Bryan Zaros, Associate Choirmaster
Bryan Zaros is a young American conductor recognized for his “strong musical imagination” and “deep sense of musicality and communication.” A native New Yorker, Bryan received a Bachelor of Music in Sacred Music from Westminster Choir College and a Master of Music in Conducting from the University of Michigan. He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting at the Manhattan School of Music.

Bryan began his professional musical training as a member of the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus and as a boy chorister at The Church of the Transfiguration NYC. At the age of sixteen he was appointed the Assistant Choirmaster at Transfiguration while also serving as the Assistant Choirmaster at St. Bartholomew’s Park Avenue; leading them on their tour of English Cathedrals, conducting services at Salisbury, Portsmouth, Southwark and Canterbury Cathedrals. Recent conducting engagements have included invitations with choirs and orchestras in England, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Sweden, Argentina, Greece, Slovenia and Romania. Most notably he has conducted concerts at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center and at American Choral Director’s Association Conferences. He is a recipient of several conducting awards including an American Prize award in Conducting.

Most recently, Bryan served as the Director of Choral Activities at Avon Old Farms School, an exclusive all male boarding high school in Avon, Connecticut; as the Conductor of the Archdiocesan Choir and Orchestra at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Hartford; and as a conductor of choirs at the University of Hartford. Bryan began his tenure as the Associate Choirmaster at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in August 2016 and made his conducting debut with the Cathedral’s Choirs at Westminster Abbey, London.

Raymond Nagem, Associate Music Director
Raymond Nagem is Associate Director of Music at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Dr. Nagem earned his B.A. from Yale University, where he studied with Thomas Murray, and his M.M. and D.M.A. from The Juilliard School. He previously held positions at The Parish of All Saints, Ashmont and at Christ Church, New Haven. In addition to his responsibilities for service playing and choral accompaniment, he works regularly with the Cathedral Chorale and the Choristers.

Stephen Biegner, Music Administrator
Stephen joined the staff in January 2017. He is the main contact person for all music-related questions at the Cathedral. He can be reached by email at sbiegner@stjohndivine.org (preferred), or phone at (212) 316-7550.

Stephen is a light lyric tenor with an affinity for choral music. He has embraced the choral repertoire singing as a soloist for several concerts including Brahms’ Liebesliede Waltzes and Ziegeunerlieder, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, Bach’s B-minor Mass, and Handel’s Dixit Dominus to name a few. Stephen has performed at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the New York Armory (as part of the Philharmonic 360 concert), Carnegie Hall, and both Saint Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in London.

Stephen now performs with a new choral ensemble, Ampersand, which is a project-based ensemble performing everything from the fringes of the common-practice era with modern and early bits sprinkled in for color. He was the tenor soloist for Ampersand’s performance of David Lang’s little match girl passion this past spring and has even composed pieces for the ensemble to perform.

Stephen has also performed in several operas, including a new opera Truth, composed by Paula Kimper, based on the life of Sojourner Truth, which premiered at the NY Fringe Festival last summer. Other roles include Tony in West Side Story, Manuel in The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and Orphée in Orphée aux enfers. Stephen is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music having studied with Voice Department chair Maitland Peters while he was there.